Hello
I'm pretty new to pixel art and have recently started working on a halfling-styled unit. I've read some of the tutorials on the Wesnoth site and I've also read a couple other tutorials, which I'll link to. Overall, I think my second attempt on my halfling is pretty good, but I'd like any feedback and/or help with giving it better, more realistic shading.

regarding shading/colour pattern: the shading at first doesn't look bad either. yes it could be improved but generally ok. the shoes and knives could be more shaded with lighter colours.

generally: the concept are quiet ok too, all tough there have been some attempts like these. the heads are a bit "small"/"unnatural". they look a bit childish as in a young infant. the arms could be a bit longer too. If you plan to have the good and the evil version in a faction, then maybe change the pose or add some more variations.

I attached the wotg dwarflings/halfling (originally from other eras but idk which exactly) so you can get an idea on how wesnoth-ish halflings could look like.

regarding shading/colour pattern: the shading at first doesn't look bad either. yes it could be improved but generally ok. the shoes and knives could be more shaded with lighter colours.

generally: the concept are quiet ok too, all tough there have been some attempts like these. the heads are a bit "small"/"unnatural". they look a bit childish as in a young infant. the arms could be a bit longer too. If you plan to have the good and the evil version in a faction, then maybe change the pose or add some more variations.

I attached the wotg dwarflings/halfling (originally from other eras but idk which exactly) so you can get an idea on how wesnoth-ish halflings could look like.

Thanks for your feedback! It really helped make my halfling more like the Wesnoth-styled halflings. Here's what it looks like with those modifications and a few others:
Is there anything else that could be improved?

Last edited by speedduck on June 27th, 2018, 3:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

* For the face, people usually don't give mouth to humanoid sprites in wesnoth (except for sprites with beards)
* Face again: it needs more deepness: add a few brighter pixels in the place where the nose is
* In general, don't hesitate to add exagerated reflections (see for exaple the knees of the poacher, or his leftmost arm) as the sprites are very small, it helps giving deepness. You could do that in the hair, knees and shoes (though it may be harder for you as your caracter is so skinny)
* The arms (the rightmost) are imo still too short.
* The general attitude is nice.
* I suspect the guy may be slightly too tall (he should be 3-4 pix smaller as a lvl1 human)

Of course, most of these remarks are meant to make your sprite more in the current style of wesnoth, which is highly reccomended if your sprite is intended to interact with mainline sprites. But you could also want to find your own style once you feel comfortable enough with pixel art.

* For the face, people usually don't give mouth to humanoid sprites in wesnoth (except for sprites with beards)
* Face again: it needs more deepness: add a few brighter pixels in the place where the nose is
* In general, don't hesitate to add exagerated reflections (see for exaple the knees of the poacher, or his leftmost arm) as the sprites are very small, it helps giving deepness. You could do that in the hair, knees and shoes (though it may be harder for you as your caracter is so skinny)
* The arms (the rightmost) are imo still too short.
* The general attitude is nice.
* I suspect the guy may be slightly too tall (he should be 3-4 pix smaller as a lvl1 human)

Of course, most of these remarks are meant to make your sprite more in the current style of wesnoth, which is highly reccomended if your sprite is intended to interact with mainline sprites. But you could also want to find your own style once you feel comfortable enough with pixel art.

Thanks nenau. I modified the head, arms, and height, but I'm a little confused as how to go about adding exaggerated reflections. Here's what it currently looks like:
How would I make exaggerated reflections?

Last edited by speedduck on June 27th, 2018, 3:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

use isolated white pixel to enhance certain few places, like the boots, knees , hair too.
sometimes white is too much, on black it is enough to use a light grey colour.

I like the pose a lot now. however, the head feels still too big like a booble-head. check other mainline sprites and compare their heads, how much face is shown , how much hair. default heads end up being a bit smaller but have a lot of hair.

use isolated white pixel to enhance certain few places, like the boots, knees , hair too.
sometimes white is too much, on black it is enough to use a light grey colour.

I like the pose a lot now. however, the head feels still too big like a booble-head. check other mainline sprites and compare their heads, how much face is shown , how much hair. default heads end up being a bit smaller but have a lot of hair.

Thanks. I added some lighter pixels on the boots, hair, arms, and legs and fixed up the coat and arm shape. I also reduced the face's size and increased the amount of hair. It looks quite a lot more like the halflings from the halfling era than it did when I started.

Here's what it looks like compared to the poacher:
Is there still something I could fix or improve?

Last edited by speedduck on June 27th, 2018, 3:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.

If you plan to have the good and the evil version in a faction, then maybe change the pose or add some more variations.

I've also been working on the evil variation of my halfling. Using what I currently have for my good version, I've modified the evil variation so that it has more of a crouched pose and a different arm position. It's also carrying 2 daggers and looks kind of like an assassin or thief. Here's what it looks like compared to the 'good' version:
I'll start working on the upgraded units for these soon. I'm thinking of doing a lvl2 halfling master thief(which would mean that the current evil version is a halfling thief) and then maybe lvl3 assassin for the evil version. On the good side it'll probably be lvl2 halfling guard and then lvl3 knight or lvl3 master guard(maybe both not sure yet ).

I've now finished building the advancement tree for the lawful halfling. It starts with a lvl1 halfling, then lvl2 guard, and finally lvl3 captain. Soon, I will also start work on a lvl3 knight advancement for the guard. Any help, comments, and/or feedback is appreciated.

The lvl2 guard's arm looks off, but I'm unsure how to fix it. The lvl3 captain's sword also looks a little blunt. Does anyone have any ideas?

so yeah.
i think in comparison to your lv 1 good/evil halfling, neither the lv2 nor the lv3 look good. but thats because the lv 1 look really good now.

the armour color/shading looks off. it looks more like a ball of metal the full-armour plates. maybe take a reference to an armour you like from wesnoth and try to shrink it a bit. then you a adjust the pose and everything else.
the lv3 helm looks off too. it looks the hair and helm are mashed together. I'd recommend doing the same helmet as with the armour.

There are some minor issues with the lvl1:
- too many shades; there are some pixels that are very similar in colour but not actually the same. This would make later edits harder.
-pillowshading/lack of structure. It's mostly the jacket that looks boring because it lacks folds.
-the knife arm could look better if it bends a little.
I made an edit for the jacket and face, which reduces the number of colours.

Spoiler:

halfling.png (1.24 KiB) Viewed 2044 times

As for the level 2 the problem with the arm is that it comes out from the side of the shoulder. If you move it down to the left it should fix this.
The sword of the lvl3 has some pillowshading. Make the edges brighter and give it a darker line in the middle.